nc2400 2nd HDD Caddy, SSD compatibility? Performance?

[glemmy]

I have an HP NC2400 which I have added an optical bay drive caddy to, two years ago or so. It currently has a 120 GB SATA 5400rpm disk inside.

I would like to increase the performance a bit (I have 2GB RAM and I guess doubling it costs quite much, if it's possible at all). It tends to be very slow when I run a lot of programs and want to start a new one or switch between them.

The main thing I would like to speed up is a software I use a lot which sort of "gets a string from a database, writes another string to the database and then gets another one" (not the best of explanations, but it's irrelevant I think it has a lot to do with the access time of the disk)

A decent SSD doesn't cost that much today.


What I wonder is, can I insert a modern SSD into the caddy and expect good performance?

[User Retired 2]

What I wonder is, can I insert a modern SSD into the caddy and expect good performance?

See 1.8" ZIF PATA SSDs available . There are ZIF SSDs there as well as comparative 2.5" SATA SSDs in sata-to-pata caddy performance data. The best performance seen so far from Indilinx Barefoot SSDs (OCZ Vertex 2). A SSD will see significantly faster 4kb read/writes than your current HDD.

Also note if your caddy is having it's write performance handicapped if running as slave as described in INFO: Undo the slave PATA 30MB/s sequential write speed capping.

Before you invest in your SSD/caddy, I'd recommend pricing up a HP 2530P or Dell E4300 as a replacement system solution. These both have a SATA subsystem for their primary and optical drives so give (1) better battery life due to SATA power link management and no sata-to-pata caddy overhead (2) AHCI's NCQ for much faster multi-queued 4kb read/writes and (3) the system is faster and more efficient overall.

A NC2400 has no LED-backlit LCD and has very slow GMA950 graphics. Even a 2510P would be a good upgrade with it's X3100 graphics and LED-backlit LCD. They can be had for very low $$ these days.

[glemmy]

See 1.8" ZIF PATA SSDs available . There are ZIF SSDs there as well as comparative 2.5" SATA SSDs in sata-to-pata caddy performance data. The best performance seen so far from Indilinx Barefoot SSDs (OCZ Vertex 2). A SSD will see significantly faster 4kb read/writes than your current HDD.

Also note if your caddy is having it's write performance handicapped if running as slave as described in INFO: Undo the slave PATA 30MB/s sequential write speed capping.

Before you invest in your SSD/caddy, I'd recommend pricing up a HP 2530P or Dell E4300 as a replacement system solution. These both have a SATA subsystem for their primary and optical drives so give (1) better battery life due to SATA power link management and no sata-to-pata caddy overhead (2) AHCI's NCQ for much faster multi-queued 4kb read/writes and (3) the system is faster and more efficient overall.

A NC2400 has no LED-backlit LCD and has very slow GMA950 graphics. Even a 2510P would be a good upgrade with it's X3100 graphics and LED-backlit LCD. They can be had for very low $$ these days.

Thanks for a great reply!
1,8" SSDs are rather pricey, especially per gigabyte. I furthermore feel it would be a rather short-term investment (probably can't and won't move it to my next computer/laptop).

I'm currently checking if the write performance is capped. Great piece of advice!

Upgrading the whole system is not completely out of the question. I'm drooling over the new Ultrabooks with weights below 1,5 kg, thin and high resolution screens. But, it's a bit over my budget
2510p, E4300 seems like great computers. A company in Sweden sells them refurbished with warranty for 250-320 Euro and they probably go for less on eBay.
But, they still have the 1280x800 screen resolution which is kind of a deal-breaker for me. Not sure what to do

What's the next step if I want something portable (14" or below), as light as possible, higher screen resolution and decent performance for less than, let's say, USD 500/EUR 400? Should perhaps post a new thread in another forum

[User Retired 2]

Thanks for a great reply!
1,8" SSDs are rather pricey, especially per gigabyte. I furthermore feel it would be a rather short-term investment (probably can't and won't move it to my next computer/laptop).

I'm currently checking if the write performance is capped. Great piece of advice!

Upgrading the whole system is not completely out of the question. I'm drooling over the new Ultrabooks with weights below 1,5 kg, thin and high resolution screens. But, it's a bit over my budget
2510p, E4300 seems like great computers. A company in Sweden sells them refurbished with warranty for 250-320 Euro and they probably go for less on eBay.
But, they still have the 1280x800 screen resolution which is kind of a deal-breaker for me. Not sure what to do

What's the next step if I want something portable (14" or below), as light as possible, higher screen resolution and decent performance for less than, let's say, USD 500/EUR 400? Should perhaps post a new thread in another forum

In the US you might be able to get a Lenovo X200s/X201s, Lenovo X300 or X301 or Sony Z11/12/13 with high res panels for within your budget. Import or local pricing in Sweden might push it outside of your budget.

In which case I'll once again recommend a 13" E4300 or 12" HP 2530P as excellent ultraportables to tide you over until newer tech becomes affordable. A 2530P can host a mSATA SSD using a mSATA-to-microSATA adapter so can line up your SSD for future use and betters a E4300 with a 93Whr 9-cell option (9hrs+ of battery life).

Both have 1280x800 LCDs which are nicer to use than squat 1366x768 in contemporary systems and are dual-drive capable. If are OK with a single drive then consider a 12" Dell E4200, Lenovo X200 or even a 13" HP Folio 13 ultrabook (60Whr battery).

NOTE: HP has as yet not made a dual-drive thin-and-light successor with high-capacity battery option like the 2530P has. I'm discounting the 2540P since it gets worse battery life, is heavier and gets a worse keyboard than a 2530P.

[glemmy]

Thank you! I will check the laptops out.
I tried out a few new Ultrabooks on COMPUTEX and I must say the keyboard on mine is far more comfortable, same goes with my really old Thinkpad X31

Meanwhile, what would you say about these results?

Since I get similar sequential read speed (@33MB/s) as the write speed it's perhaps the disk that is really crappy?
It's a 5400rpm 120GB from an old MacBook I think.

[User Retired 2]

Thank you! I will check the laptops out.
I tried out a few new Ultrabooks on COMPUTEX and I must say the keyboard on mine is far more comfortable, same goes with my really old Thinkpad X31

Meanwhile, what would you say about these results?

Since I get similar sequential read speed (@33MB/s) as the write speed it's perhaps the disk that is really crappy?
It's a 5400rpm 120GB from an old MacBook I think.

That HDD is very slow so a newer Indilinx Barefoot based SSD (G-Skill Falcon II, OCZ Vertex 2) would be a massive improvement. One of those would get you 2.5 times faster sequential read/writes, 40 times faster read IOPS and boot times of b/w half to a third of what you are seeing now.